Sleeping on the Job
by jewels1798
Summary: Pre Iron Man, the beginnings of pepperony oneshot. Pepper and Tony are on the Stark Jet, heading to Tokyo. Unfortunately for Pepper, she's tired and sleeping on the job is totally inappropriate when her boss is around. Cute awkwardness ensues.


**Okay. So I fell asleep on a bus today. This came into my mind.**

**Oh! I'll make you mine update coming up, thanks for the patience!**

**Enjoy, and REVIEW!**

* * *

Pepper Potts swore to herself that she would remain professional working as Tony Stark's personal assistant, but damn was she tired. She wriggled in the leather seat and tried to keep her mind awake by staring out the jet's window. This wasn't the first business trip she had accompanied Tony on, but for some reason, Pepper couldn't stay awake.

She had worked for a year and a half, with the first month being the toughest time of her life. After that, Pepper finally adjusted to Tony's 'extravagant' lifestyle. Of course she had her challenges, which included the occasional walk-ins to various threesomes, accidentally deleting a few vital emails, and barely getting Tony to meetings on time. However, she was pretty proud of her efforts.

But Pepper couldn't stifle the yawn that escaped her lips. She was strewn across two cream coloured, large, spacious seats at the front of the jet. She had her laptop sitting on her upper thighs and had slipped her shoes off in an effort to get comfy.

Tony was elsewhere in the jet, most likely chatting up the flight attendants. They were heading for Tokyo to meet with some business associates who were important buyers of Stark Industries' newly released weaponry.

Pepper sighed at her inner conflict, her brain screamed for her to not fall asleep. It was totally unprofessional. She had avoided sleeping on the job many times; she wasn't going to stuff up now. This job had very demanding hours as she learnt very early on, and Pepper was yet to have a weekend off. Tony was like a child; he needed constant attention and guidance 24/7.

Her head slowly drooped and her eyelids flickered, but she quickly snapped her head back up. Tony could walk in at any moment, and seeing his assistant napping wasn't going to leave the best impression. Instead, Pepper tried to focus on the daunting task ahead, responding to her daily emails.

All 249 of them.

It was a long flight after all. After getting through 72 messages, Pepper shut the lid of her computer and gave into to her inner debate. She would just close her eyes for a minute…

* * *

"Potts."

"Potts."

"You there?"

"Pepper."

Pepper moaned quietly, totally ignorant to whom was standing above her.

She heard a chuckle and her eyes snapped open.

Crap.

She slowly turned her head to see Tony grinning, arms crossed over his chest.

"We're nearly in Tokyo." He cleared his throat, still smiling.

Pepper fought back her ruby blush that flourished across her freckled cheeks and nodded.

She quickly sat up, her once tightly combed back bun out of place and stray hairs betraying her. To her horror, she had been in a fetal position, her legs tucked up to her chest and arms close together near her face.

"Dream about me?" He teased, his warm chocolate brown eyes sparkled with intrigue.

She smirked in reply, trying to keep her cool, "Even I need beauty sleep Mr Stark."

Tony opened his mouth to say something equally as witty, but he stopped.

He paused and stared at Pepper. His eyes travelled up and down, as if he was studying her, unsure of what to say next.

Pepper was sure she was going to gulp; she knew she shouldn't have slept. God she was stupid. She kept her lips pursed, waiting for Tony's reply. She cocked her head in confusion and Tony broke the uncomfortable silence with something that Pepper didn't expect, and in a dazed tone he uttered, "You look cute in your sleep Potts."

It was almost as though he was oblivious that he had said it out loud, as after the words escaped his mouth a look of confusion came across his face.

Pepper was stunned at these words also, but she didn't show it.

"Thanks Tony." She replied dryly. She waved his somewhat of a compliment off and opened her laptop, silently signalling that the conversation was over. Quietly cringing, she remembered she had kicked her shoes off as Tony bent down to pick one of the Louboutin's off the carpet.

"Need this?" He offered, obviously trying to make them both forget about what he had just previously said.

"Yep." Pepper nodded and bit her tongue as she took the shoe out of his hand and slid it on her foot.

Tony cleared his throat, and brought back his usual tone, "Well, I'm going to the bar…you can continue beauty sleeping." He inserted air quotes at the words 'beauty sleeping' and Pepper rolled her eyes.

"Will that be all Mr Stark?"

"That will be all Miss Potts."

She heard his footsteps quieten and let out a gasp of relief. She was never sleeping on the job again.

* * *

**AHAHAHHA so that was kind of fun to write. My first oneshot! Woooooooooooooo! I really like cute, awkward Pepperony :)**

**Please feel free to review, I would love to hear your thoughts!**


End file.
